Capseals for container closures



Feb. 25, 1964 R. 1.. PARISH, JR., ElAL 3,122,251

CAPSEZALS FOR CONTAINER CLOSURES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 26, 1962IQ/CHA R0 1.. PAR/SH, Jr.

. AND INVENTORS.

BERNARD E HARK/NS, Jr.

United States Patent 3 122,261 CAPSEALS eon oN'rArNEn cLosUREs RichardL. Parish, 31"., North Salem, N .Y., and Bernmd Harkins, in, SouthPiainfield, N.J., assignors to American Flange & Manufacturing Co., Inc,New York,

N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 182,339 9Claims. (Cl. 22027) This invention relates to capseals for containerclosures and particuiarly to such capseals as are customarily used forthe sealing of closures employed on barrels and drums.

In the art of capsealing barrels and drums it is desirable to employcapseals which are tamperproof, i.e., cannot be removed without beingsufiiciently destroyed as to make that removal obvious and are alsoleakproof. A high degree of perfection has heretofore been achieved inthis art by means of metal capseals which have effective gaskets securedtherein and which capseals are internally scored to facilitate theirremoval.

The capseal of this invention is formed as a combination of a capconstructed of a synthetic plastic material, of which low densitypolyethylene is a non-limiting example, and a metal sealing ring carriedthereby. The cap, of inverted cup shape, forms a cover over the closureby itself. The sealing effect is achieved by the crimping in of themetal ring overlying the cap to effect sealing engagement of the capwith respect to the container closure.

The use of a capseal, principally of plastic, has several advantagesover metal capseals for use in the sealing of neck type drum closures.When the proper plastic is used it forms its own gaskethig portion. Thecap need not be completely destroyed to enable access to be gained tothe container contents. Instead it is merely necessary to out off thetop portion protruding above the metal ring, leaving the skirt portionin place seated against the closure neck. This provides a secondary sealabout the losure neck.

Since the skirt of the cap does not need to be removed it can beequipped with ears for use in carrying identifying indicia.

The likelihood of workmen injuring their hands when removing the topportion or even the whole of these capseals, is greatly minimized asagainst the dangers inherent in tearing metal capseals apart to removethem.

The shipping of chemicals in lined drums has led to the necessity ofhaving closures resistant to the action of the contained chemicals. Capelements of plastic, suitably resistant to the action of the particularchemicals being shipped, can be more efiective than coated metal.

it is accordingly a principal object of this invention to provide atamperproof and leakproof capseal for drum closures employing a cap of asynthetic plastic material.

Another object is to provide a capseal which will eliminate priorfactors affording the possibility of injury to workmens hands uponremoval.

Another object is to provide a chemically resistant capseal for use inthe shipment of chemicals.

A further object is to provide a capseal wherein additional sealingbetween the container and closure is ef fected, which sealing remainseffective even after the expandable portion of the capseal has beenremoved for providing access to the contents of the container.

A still further object is to provide a capseal which also provides apermanent tag ring.

Still further and more detailed objects will in part be obvious and inpart be pointed out as the description of the invention, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing proceeds.

In that drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the cap element of the capseal inaccordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken on lines 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is atop plan view of the sealing ring of the capseal.

FIG. 4 is an elevation partly in section of the sealing ring of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section, greatly enlarged, of portionsof the cap element and sealing ring in assembled relation.

FIG. 6 is an elevation partly in section of a drum closure flangecontainer wall assembly for reception of the capseal of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6, with the capseal positioned on theflange ready for sealing.

FIG. 8 is a full elevational view of the PEG. 7 construction, with thesealing ring crimped into place to complete the capsealing.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section of the left handportion of FIG. 8, showing the inclusion of a closure plug.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical elevation of the right handportion of FIG. 8, showing a tag attached to the ear.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary exploded view of a portion of FIG. 8 but withthe protruding top portion of the capseal removed; and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the commencement ofthe cut for effecting the removal of the top portion of the capseal.

The capseal of the invention is made up of a cap member, generallyindicated at l which is molded from a synthetic plastic material, suchas polyethylene, and a metal sealing ring generally indicated at 2.

The plastic cap member -1 comprises a flat disc-like top 3 and a steppedlaterally extending skirt, generally indicated at 4. The upper portion 5of the skirt inclines slightly inwardly from the top corner 5a thereofto the lower portion 5b. An intermediate horizontal annular portion 6extends outwardly from the bottom of the portion 5 and turns into alower vertically downwardly extending wall 7.

At the position where the lower portion 5b meets up with the annularportion 6, the portion 5b is recessed inwardly at 8 all the Way aroundits circumference, resulting in substantial reduction of the wallthickness at this position. This facilitates removal of the upperportion of the cap member as will be pointed out more fully hereinafter.

The lower vertical wall portion 7 is substantially thicker than theportion 5. Its outer surface 9 is cylindrical but its inner surface 9ais contoured to initially generally conform to the neck and flange headto which it is to be applied. The formation and wall thickness provideselfgasketing characteristics as will be pointed out. The cap member isfurther provided with cars it which are formed as a continuation of theskirt 4- and extend outwardly from the lower edge 11 thereof. One orboth of these ears may be perforated as at 12, for the attachmentthereto of a suitable tag or label 13 as shown in FIG. 10. Thoughpreferably two ears 10 are provided only one, or more than two can beprovided as desired.

The sealing ring, indicated generally at 2 in FIGS. 3 and 4, is anannular metal member of inverted L shape in cross-section with aninwardly projecting horizontal upper shoulder portion 14 which extendsfrom a vertical extending cylindrical skirt. The shoulder 14 terminatesat its inner periphery in a free end face 14a. Though the ring 2 ispreferably formed of tin plate it may also be formed of aluminum or analloy thereof.

FIG. shows the capseal 1 and sealing ring 2 in assembled'relationship.To effect this the sealing ring has to be snapped over the plastic capmember since, from the FIG. 5 showing, the end face 14a of the shoulder14 is on a somewhat shorter radius than the top corner 5a of the'cap.The cap is sufficiently resilient to allow this snapping to be effectedbut, also, serves to retain the ring in assembled relationship. Thehorizontal shoulder 14 seats down on the horizontal portion 6 with theend face 14a lying across and substantially closing off the groove 8 atthe lower end of the side wall 5. As to the skirt 15 and the wallportion 7, it will be seen that initially the wall portion 15 has itsinner surface 15a spaced somewhat outwardly of the outer surface. 9 ofthe wall 7. The space'shown in P16. 5 is somewhat exaggerated, for allthat is necessary, is the space that is needed to enable the assembly tobe applied over the inserted closure flange; The plastic will yieldenough to go over the flange bead so long as it is not tightly encasedin metal. The space provided here at 151) provides for that give. Thespace must be kept at a minimum to avoid undesirable puckering of theskirt 15 when it'is crimped 1n.

FIG. 6 shows a drum closure flange and'container wall assembly ready forapplication of the capseal assembly. An internally threaded flange 16'is pressed into an embossing in the drum stock 17 with the upper rim ofthefiange beaded outwardly at 1-8 and overlying the upper end of thedrum stock neck 1711.

FIG. 7 shows the closure assembly of FIG. 6 with the capseal assemblyloosely applied thereto and before the metalsealing ring is crimped intosealing position. Here it can be seen how the special shape of the innersurface 9a of the lower vertical skirt wall 9 places the appropriatethicknesses of material of the cap skirt 9 in position around the bead13 and below that bead in opposition to the surface of the containerwall neck 170. Here, as can be seen, a substantial gap still remainsbetween the ring skirt 15' and the capskirt 9. Though this gap,particularly the intermediate part thereof, may be momentarilysubstantially closed up as the thicker portion of the cap skirt 7 issnapped past the head 18, it opens again when the complete'capseal isfully seated in the FIG. 7 position.

The cap skirt 9is contoured, as best' seen in FIG. 5, with an enlargedportion which, even in the uncrimped positions, tends to swell inbeneath the lower end of 15a of the flange head 13. This subsequentlyserves 'as an additional gasketing andsealing but initially servesto'hold the capseal in effective seated position over the closure flangeassembly, ready for application of the crimping tool thereto.

The crimped position of the capseal is shown in ele- Vationin FIG. 8 andin enlarged fragmentary sectional form in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 also includes ascrew threaded closure plug 24 having a slightly enlarged head 21engaged with the inner surface of the flange bead 18 at its lower edge22 and thus confining the plug gasket 23 on its seat 24 and between theposition 22 and the uppermost thread of the threaded side wall 16a ofthe closure flange 16. The closure plug, however, is not contacted bythe capseal and the capseal may either, in some instances, form acomplete closure without the closure plugor may, in its more commonusage, form a secondary closing and sealing over the closure plug.

Considering then the capshealing aspects of FIGS. 8 and 9, it will beseen that, as here shown, the skirt 15 of the sealing'ring has beencrimped in all around its periphery and has carried the skirt 7 of thecap member inwardly with it, so that the inwardly contoured portion 9aof the cap skirt 7 has now been brought flush against the outer surface17a of the drum stock flange, just below the end 18a of the bead intight sealing contact. This sealing contact continues on down throughoutthe remainder of the extent of the cap skirt. Then, at the bottom ofthat skirt, the cars 14,, due to the change of angle of the portion ofthe cap skirt carrying them, will have been given a downward incline asseen best in PEG. 8, so that they are actually brought into contact 5with the drum stock embossing, which receives the flange base.

Not only is a tight sealing effect achieved against the drum stock neckbelow the bead 13a, but a tight sealing is also provided against thebead itself by the upper portion 7a of the cap skirt 7 engagedtherewith. Hence, in the unlikely siutation that either the flangegasket 26 or the plug gasket 23 should fail or the drum stock neck 17should crack above the gasket 26, leakage would be precluded by thesealing effect of the cap skirt 7.

It can be readily seen from FIGS. 8 through ll, that when the ring skirtis crimped inwardly against the cap skirt 7, it adopts an inward anddownward incline comparable to a frustum of acone. It is believed thatit will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that astheinward crimping of the ring skirt 15 proceeds and as it tends to inclineinwardly, a downward drawing action will be imparted to it by means ofit and by means of the skirt shoulder 14 to the resilient material 7 ofthe cap skirt. This will not only enhance the sealing effect but willalso somewhat straighten out the side wall 5 of the upper portion of thecap as seen from FIG. 9 and, additionally, will draw the inner face 14aof the shoulder 14 slightly away from the recess 8 in the top skirt 5,thereby exposing that recess so that any suitable instrument can beinserted into the same and be forced through the thin wall of the captop at this position. A knife edge is not needed, the end of a screwdriver or even a nail will do. In fact the recessed portion 8 can bereadily fractured merely by grasping the top edge of the cap at eitherside of the position 5a, between the jaws of a pair of pliers andpulling backwardly toward thecenter of the cap. The application of afracturing instrument for fracturing the upper portion of the cap isillustrated at 27 in FIG. 12, where the portion of the cap top hasalready been raised up. Once the portionof the periphery of the cap iscut or broken' loose in this manner, it is relatively easy to grasp thecap top by the fingers or with pliers and tear around the rest of therecessed portion 8. Cutting all the-Way around 7 7 as seen in theexploded view in FIG. 11. The screw plug, if any, can now be removed, asseen in the relationships in FIG. 9, and the contents of the containercan be dispensed. Nevertheless the'cap skirt 7 remains 5 tightly sealedagainst the bead 18 and the drum'stock neck 17-, to prevent any leakagepossibly resulting from failure of the flange gasket 26hr splitting ofthe drum stock neck 17. In addition the cars it) still remain in placeand continue to be useahle for the holding of an identifying tag 13 asseen in FIG. 10. Thus even though the sealing effect over the mainopening and over the plug, if any, may be eliminated by removal. of thetop portion 3 of the seal, the remainder of the seal skirt and the metalclinching ring stay in place as a secondary closure against any possibleleakage, through splits in the drum stock neck or destruction of theflange gasket 26 through overheating in the course of reconditioning thecontainer.

Though in the foregoing the presently preferred form 7 of invention hasbeen described in conjunction with the illustration of the accompanyingdrawing, it is, of course,

to be understood that such showing and description are cessed portion 3,enabling the entire top to be removed parting from the spirit and scopeof that invention as set forth in the claims to follow.

Having described our invention what we claim is new and desire to obtainLetters Patent for is:

l. A capseal for container closures comprising a plastic cap having adisc-like top with a stepped laterally extending skirt therearound, saidstepped skirt having an upper portion extending downwardly from saiddisc-like top, an intermediate horizontal portion extending outwardlyfrom the bottom of said upper portion and a lower substantially verticalportion extending downwardly from said horizontal portion, said upperportion, near the lower end thereof, being circumferentially scored soas to enable tearing away of said disc-like top and said upper skirtportion, and a metal sealing ring having a substantially vertical skirtportion and an annular horizontal portion extending radially inwardlyfrom the top of said skirt portion, said sealing ring being engaged overthe conesponding intermediate horizontal portion and lower verticalportion of the cap skirt and being adapted to be crimped inwardly so asto compress said lower vertical portion of said plastic capseal intosealin' engagement with a container closure structure.

2. A capseal for container closure comprising a cap member and a sealingring for securing said cap member in place on a closure member, said capmember and sealing ring being assembled together in a manner to retainthem together in shipment, said cap member having a disclike top with alaterally extending stepped skirt therearound, said skirt being formedwith a circumferentially disposed weakened portion of reducedcross-sectional area so as to enable tearing away of said disc-like topat said skirt weakened portion, said sealing ring surrounding a lowerportion of said stepped cap skirt for clamping said cap skirt about acontainer closure structure, said sealing ring having an inwardlyflanged portion with a depending skirt therearound, said cap skirthaving a portion between said cap top and said step recessed radiallyinwardly to retain said sealing ring in place on said cap duringshipment.

3. A capseal for container closures comprising a cap member and asealing ring for securing said cap member in place on a closure member,said cap member and sealing ring being assembled together in a manner toretain them together in shipment, said cap member having a disclike topwith a laterally extending stepped skirt therearound, said skirt beingformed with a circumferentially disposed weakened portion of reducedcross-sectional area so as to enable tearing away of said disc-like topat said skirt weakened portion, said sealing ring surrounding a lowerportion of said stepped cap skirt for clamping said cap skirt about acontainer closure structure, said sealing ring having an inwardlyflanged portion with a depending skirt therearound, said ring skirtbeing positioned in radially spaced relationship with respect to thelower portion of said cap skirt to permit expansion of said cap skirtupon application of said capseal to a container closure structure.

4. A closure combination for containers comprising a container wallformed with an opening therein and with a substantially cylindrical neckextending upwardly around said opening, a bushing fitted within saidopening having an upper portion beaded outwardly over the outer end ofsaid neck and a capseal secured in sealing engagement over said opening,said capseal comprising a cap member formed of resilient plasticmaterial, said cap member having a disc-like top, with a skirt extendingdownwardly therearound, said top overlying said opening and said skirtbeing formed with an outwardly extending shoulder seated on said bead,the skirt of said cap continuing downwardly beyond said bead and beingengaged with the side thereof and with said container neck below saidbead, a metal sealing ring having a flange portion overlying saidshoulder portion of said skirt and having a depending collar portioncrirnped inwardly against the lower portion of said skirt below saidshoulder portion, said collar portion of said ring securing the portionof said skirt therebeneath into tight sealing engagement with said beadand with the container neck portion below said head, said cap skirtabove said shoulder being formed with a circumferential weakened sectionso as to enable tearing away of said disc-like top thereby gainingaccess to said opening while said lower skirt portion and sealing ringremain intact on said container.

5. A capseal for container closures comprising a plastic cap having adisc-like top portion, a stepped laterally depending sklrt dependingfrom and around said disc-like top, said stepped skirt having asubstantially cylindrical upper wall portion depending downwardly fromsaid disc like top portion, a substantially horizontal intermediateportion extending radially outwardly from the lower end of said upperwall portion, a substantially cylindrical lower wall portion dependingdownwardly from the outer periphery of said horizontal portion andterminating in a free edge, the lower end of said upper wall portionadjacent said horizontal intermediate portion being formed with acircumferentially disposed radially outwardly opening channel leaving aremaining wall portion of reduced cross-sectional area in back of saidchannel, said wall portion of reduced horizontal cross-sectional areaacting as a weakened frangible section so as to enable tearing away or"said disc-like top and said upper wall portion, and an annular metalsealing ring having a substantially cylindrical skirt portion, anannular flange extending radially inwardly from the uppermost portion ofsaid ring skirt and terminating in a radially inwardly facing free edge,said ring skirt terminating at its lowermost portion in a downwardlyfacing free edge, said sealing ring being engaged about said plastic capwith the lower surface of said annular flange lying in contact with saidhorizontal intermediate portion of said cap skirt, said inwardly facingfree edge of said flange lying in radial opposition to said weakenedfrangible section of said cap skirt and said ring skirt surrounding saidlower wall portion of said cap skirt and adapted to be crirnped inwardlyso as to compress the lower wall portion of said cap skirt radiallyinwardly into sealing engagement with a container closure structure.

6. A capseal as in claim 5, wherein said lowermost portion of said ringskirt is in radially spaced relation to said lower wall portion of saidcap skirt to allow for outward radial expansion of said lower wallportion upon application or" said capseal to a container closurestructure.

7. A capseal as in claim 6, wherein said lower wall portion of said capskirt as viewed in vertical cross-section has its inner surface formedin a relatively flat S-shaped configuration.

8. A capseal as in claim 5, wherein the width of the mouth of saidcircumferential channel is greater than the thickness of said ringflange at said free edge thereof so that access may be had to saidweakened frangible area by means of a suitable implement to facilitateremoval of said cap disc-like top and upper wall portion.

9. A capseal as in claim 8, wherein said upper wall portion of said capskirt has a diameter slightly greater than the internal diameter of saidring flange free edge, said edge extending radially within saidcircumferential channel so as to protect against accidental dislodgementof said ring from said cap prior to securement of said capseal to acontainer closure structure.

References tCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,661,128 Rieke Dec. 1, 1953 3,025,988 Williams Mar. 20, 1962

1. A CAPSEAL FOR CONTAINER CLOSURES COMPRISING A PLASTIC CAP HAVING ADISC-LIKE TOP WITH A STEPPED LATERALLY EXTENDING SKIRT THEREAROUND, SAIDSTEPPED SKIRT HAVING AN UPPER PORTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAIDDISC-LIKE TOP, AN INTERMEDIATE HORIZONTAL PORTION EXTENDING OUTWARDLYFROM THE BOTTOM OF SAID UPPER PORTION AND A LOWER SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALPORTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID HORIZONTAL PORTION, SAID UPPERPORTION, NEAR THE LOWER END THEREOF, BEING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SCORED SOAS TO ENABLE TEARING AWAY OF SAID DISC-LIKE TOP AND SAID UPPER SKIRTPORTION, AND A METAL SEALING RING HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SKIRTPORTION AND AN ANNULAR HORIZONTAL PORTION EXTENDING RADIALLY INWARDLYFROM THE TOP OF SAID SKIRT PORTION, SAID SEALING RING BEING ENGAGED OVERTHE CORRESPONDING INTERMEDIATE HORIZONTAL PORTION AND LOWER VERTICALPORTION OF THE CAP SKIRT AND BEING ADAPTED TO BE CRIMPED INWARDLY SO ASTO COMPRESS SAID LOWER VERTICAL PORTION OF SAID PLASTIC CAPSEAL INTOSEALING ENGAGEMENT WITH A CONTAINER CLOSURE STRUCTURE.